The Retrieval | Review

Repo Men: Eska’s Latest a Gripping Coming of Age Narrative

Certain to be referred to as an indie film counterpart to Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 Django Unchained due to its depiction of black men involved in Civil War era bounty hunting, director Chris Eska’s emotionally engaging sophomore film, The Retrieval, is a resonant and haunting coming of age narrative that’s as adeptly written as it is performed. Tishuan Scott’s win for Breakthrough Performance at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival seems well placed, and will hopefully be an accolade that funnels some attention to the rather somber film.

It’s 1864 and America is in the last leg of the Civil War. Will (Ashton Sanders), who is 13 years of age, works with his uncle Marcus (Keston John) for a band of bounty hunters led by Burrell (Bill Oberst Jr.). Generally, Burrell and co. hunt down runaway slaves, using Will and/or Marcus to ingratiate themselves in the slave communities then grab whoever they came for. Burrell tasks Marcus with traveling cross country to capture Nate (Tishuan Scott), a freed slave whose death will bring a large sum of money. Taking his nephew along with him, Marcus and Will ply Nate with news of an injured brother to lure him down South. As he begrudgingly follows, Nate begins to befriend Will, much to the chagrin of the malevolent Marcus.

While there have been a handful of highly visible slave narratives over the past couple years, (at the top of course, 12 Years a Slave) fueling conversations about privileged perspectives and/or the how these are prevalent types of critically successful films due to a white majority’s guilt/comfort complex with said narratives, it would be a pity to see viewers dissuaded from Eska’s moving title based on any such bias.

Eska, whose debut, 2007’s August Evening, concerned an undocumented immigrant worker, crafts his story almost entirely from the perspective of a young black adolescent, and his narrative appears to be well researched and handled with some degree of sensitivity (though, more overtly provocative fare sporting the incredibly graphic violence evidenced in Django or McQueen’s austere Best Picture winner may have something to do with that observation).

Filmed almost entirely in the backwoods of Texas, DP Yasu Tanida takes pains to craft desolate shots of a beautiful, apathetic landscape which the three men trek through. The film quite innovatively captures the period, utilizing a well-placed sequence where the trio gets stuck in the middle of a small shoot-out, played by real life Civil War reenactors. It’s a bright spot of action in a narrative that is generally meditative in its development, focusing on building its central relationship before bringing us to its dire inevitability. While performances are enjoyable throughout (Keston John is fittingly unlikeable and Alfonso Freeman, son of Morgan, is an interesting touch) if there’s anything to truly praise here it happens to be Tishuan Scott and newcomer Ashton Sanders. Their dynamic is the essential emotional component that leads us to the bleak final act, crashing down around us with the help of a fitting (if somewhat invasive) score.

★★★/☆☆☆☆☆